Sarge and Xenon walked out of the forest to the road where three ambulances were waiting. Xenon kept telling the police and paramedics that he would be okay. Sarge had to further help Xenon prove he didn’t need assistance, even though Sarge knew that wasn’t the case.

Humans wouldn’t understand Xenon’s alien anatomy. That was a given. Sarge opted for the two to get a lift to Sarge’s house instead. At least there, Xenon could take off his cloaking device and properly address any injuries he had.

Sarge had spent part of the car ride trying to talk to Chomby, but Chomby was in shock. Sarge knew the soundbyte needed time to think. In turn, the ride back to his house was quiet. He knew he couldn’t talk to Xenon in the back of a patrol vehicle, even though he wanted to figure out what happened while he was gone.

A whole year? How was he supposed to make up for that? How could he even fix it?

The officers dropped Xenon and Sarge off. Sarge carefully helped Xenon into the house and sat him on the couch. He then dropped onto the couch next to Xenon and groaned. His neck still hurt. “Urgh, well, another fabulous adventure of Sarge and Xenon, eh?” Sarge asked.

Xenon looked between his watch and Sarge but stayed quiet. He seemed to be deep in thought.

“Unless Chomby installed live cameras in my living room, I don’t think your cover will be blown, Xenon. You can decloak now.”

“How do you know about my cloaking device?” Xenon asked. “Why are we in Chomby’s house? Why are you acting like we’re friends?”

Sarge tried to think of an answer to these questions. Based off how Chomby and Xenon were acting, there really was some sort of defense put in place that made people forget Sarge existed. “Uh, to answer in order, I figured out, years ago, that you were an alien. You had a weird smell to you. And this isn’t Chomby’s house, it’s my house. But, since Chomby and I share a body, it’s technically his house, too.” Sarge put a hand to his neck. “I’m acting like we’re friends because we are. Though, I guess forgetting about me will make that not the case anymore.”

Xenon looked toward the window. He lifted a hand to his cloaking device and flicked it off. His purple, alien appearance reappeared. “A bruise here or there. No big injuries. I’ll be fine if I rest.”

“You sure about that?” Sarge asked. “That’s only physical. How about mental?”

Xenon took over a minute to answer. “Being here has been a nightmare for me, Sarge.” Xenon put a hand to his head and rubbed it. “I’ve never questioned my own thoughts in my entire life more than I have the past month. I don’t really know what’s real anymore. Yet, I was so desperate to find out the truth. I kept going.”

“Thanks for doing that, Xenon,” Sarge tried to show a reassuring smile, but Xenon didn’t seem to react how he usually would. Sarge sighed and lowered his head. “We’ve been through an apocalypse or two together, you know. You’re an ace detective, and you took me under your wing to learn from you. If there was one thing I learned about you, it’s that you’re tenacious. You always seek out the truth, even if it means things will get dangerous.”

“They certainly did.” Xenon leaned back on the couch and let out a large puff of air. “Never had I felt so helpless. How good is an ace detective if they can’t even trust their own mind?”

“Maybe this case was more of a ‘good friend’ versus an ‘ace detective’. Chomby told me you did so much to help him. Color me surprised. You and Chomby weren’t the closest of people. What changed that?”

“He was hurting.” Xenon turned his head while still resting it on the couch. He looked at Sarge and groaned. “Is Chomby okay? Why don’t you bring him out now?”

Sarge remembered asking Chomby in the car if he wanted to come out when the two got home. Chomby had only shook his head. “He probably needs some time to think. I don’t blame him.”

“How do I know you aren’t lying to me?” Xenon asked.

“If you wanted to wear the jacket and talk to him directly, we can do that.” Sarge took a deep breath. “I can only assume that his world has gone completely upside down. Never seen him this downtrodden about being a jacket before. That’s saying something, too.”

“The Chomby I was helping, was he a fake?” Xenon asked.

Sarge shook his head. “Heavens, no. Chomby is real. He just lives a life that’s more complicated than yours or mine – which is saying something… again.” He gave a sad smile. “I’m a werewolf who lost his humanity, you’re an alien who was abandoned at a young age, and Chomby’s existence can only be experienced through a jacket.”

“So that whole ‘Berithal’ thing was true?” Xenon asked. “As in… you being a werewolf deity?”

“No, fake. Amnesia must have hit that Bark guy like it hit you guys. I think he was the cultist I talked to before I disappeared. Having not known me, but seeing I was a werewolf, may have triggered a response that persisted. Rather than seeing me like a person, he only remembered flashes and glimpses of me and tied all the strings together that way. Of course, that’s just an assumption. I honestly have no idea.”

“That’s twisted,” Xenon chuckled. “But you sure Chomby is going to be okay?”

“Dunno.” Sarge shrugged. “I want to give him time to process things. I don’t want him to feel like a tool or a jacket, because he isn’t.”

Xenon sighed and looked at the ceiling. “I really hope I get my memories back. If this amnesia stuff is permanent, I’ll be livid. Really sounds like you’re a good person. Can’t believe I forgot all that.”

“It’s new to me, too,” Sarge placed his hands on his belly and closed his eyes. “Chomby never went over the four hour limit before. The process was really strange to feel. To me, it felt like being thrown in a blender and blended into a mush of concepts and thoughts. I had no concept of time, nor did I know if I was alive. Don’t think I was even conscious anymore. I was just… nothing.”

“Sounds almost like you died,” Xenon said.

“Dunno. It’s possible. Chomby died once, so my dying isn’t too off.”

“Wait, Chomby actually died?” Xenon sat up straight and looked at Sarge. “I thought the mainframe was being melodramatic.”

“The mainframe is a logical, artificial intelligence. I doubt it knows how to be overly dramatic.” Sarge rolled his eyes. “But, yeah, Chomby died. He came back though. I guess, if we consider it, maybe I died, too, but I came back as well. Being near death isn’t really new to me. Remember the hospital when you had to convince them that Chomby was a costume, and so they had to carefully unzip him while keeping my wound clos-” Sarge stopped his train of thought. “Sorry, you probably don’t remember that.”

“I don’t,” said Xenon solemnly.

Sarge and Xenon sat in silence. Sarge could hear Xenon breathing. The alien was definitely deep in thought right now.

Sarge took this opportunity to close his eyes to enter the mindscape. When the mindscape materialized around him, he noticed Chomby was still sitting down in the same position as before. This made Sarge worry.

“Hey, Chomby, I know you don’t want to talk because you’re processing a lot of stuff, but would you mind if I rested on your shoulder?” Sarge asked.

Chomby looked up. “Why? This is just your imagination, isn’t it?” Despite his question, Chomby patted the ground next to him.

“Well, it’s both of ours.” Sarge sat beside Chomby and leaned against the soundbyte. Much like he remembered, Chomby felt soft and warm. “And I figured you needed a bit of company… and I could use some as well.”

“What about Xenon?” Chomby asked.

“Resting. We’re back home now. I talked with him a bit, but I think he’s really out of it. Didja want to see him?” Sarge asked.

“Yes, more than anything,” Chomby nodded. “But… I’m scared.”

“Of what? Bark’s currently on the run from the police. Heather was admitted to the hospital. Her injuries were pretty minimal, too. Is it because I broke down? I’m sorry. I just had a lot I had to do in an impossibly short amount of time with no leads. I’ve done it once or twice before, but never after dying.”

Chomby didn’t say anything. He merely lowered his head.

“But, maybe now that things are solved, we can finally relax.”

“But I can’t relax,” Chomby said. He flung himself backward so he was laying on the ground. Sarge gasped in surprise and tried to catch himself, but ended up landing face first in Chomby’s belly.

“Pfththftfht!” Sarge said as he pushed himself out of Chomby’s belly and looked over at the Soundbyte. He scowled.

Chomby looked over at him and raised a brow in confusion.

“You’re lucky you’re soft, y’know,” Sarg teased. He stuck out his tongue and turned around so he could use Chomby’s belly as his pillow. “Been really pigging out on music, huh?”

“Stress eating,” Chomby sighed. “This whole thing has given me a bad habit. Put on a good twelve inches of belly fat in a month.”

“A fat soundbyte is a healthy soundbyte,” Sarge said. “So, it’s probably a good thing.”

“Is it?” Chomby asked.

“I mean, maybe you’ll need to tailor new performance clothes for your next concert, but I don’t think that’s an issue.” Sarge chuckled.

“Concert? What do you mean?” Chomby asked.

“Do you still do those? Sorry, it’s been a while, hasn’t it?”

“I did do them. But, I don’t think I can do them anymore if I don’t have a body. That’s just something I have to accept. I chose my path and continued doing this, despite knowing that I’d just become a jacket.”

“That never stopped you before,” Sarge said. “Why’s now any different?”

“Do you think I’m stupid, Sarge?” Chomby asked. He glared. “You just got your body back. There’s no way you’re gonna let me take over again after all this.”

“I literally offered to zip up so you can talk to Xenon,” Sarge said defensively. “Why do you think I won’t let you zip up?”

“Because, if I’d lost an entire year of my existence, I wouldn’t.” Chomby looked up at the sky. “I wouldn’t wear you again if I knew that was a possibility.”

“Well, I’m not you, Chomby.” Sarge folded his arms. “So you’re just gonna have to suck it up and be alive, gosh dang it.”

“But I want you to have your body, Sarge!” Chomby growled. “If I were to be ‘alive’, I’d want to have my own body! That way, I could hug people and know that it’s my body hugging them, not someone else’s.”

“I really don’t mind, you know.” Sarge frowned. “We’ve had this conversation before, too. You expressed the same worries.”

“Doesn’t make them any less of a problem now, though, right?” Chomby asked.

“I suppose you’re right.” Sarge leaned into Chomby’s belly a bit more. “Since we’ve done this before, my mind wants to fast-track to the resolution where I tell you that I’m doing my best to help you live a life you’ve wanted. But, that would only disregard your current emotions now, I take it?”

“Yeah. I suppose that makes sense.”

“Then it’s something we’ll need to discuss, but I still think we should do the concert.”

“Why do you want me to do the concert? What if I didn’t want to do them?”

“Is that true?” Sarge asked.

“Well, no. It isn’t.” Chomby’s voice became very quiet. “I really want to, Sarge, but… in your body? You probably have so much to have to fix since you’ve been gone.”

“I’ll figure something out,” Sarge said. He still didn’t know everything that happened while he was gone, but he was trying to think positively about his situation. He couldn’t think of anyone else in the world who stopped existing for a year, so there wasn’t much in matter of help that he could get.

“Then let’s hold off on the concerts, okay?” Chomby asked. “I want you to be in an okay position before you even think about zipping up.”

“That could take a while, Chomby. Do you really want that?”

Chomby stayed silent for a minute. He then replied. “No. I really do want to be my own person. I want it so much!”

“Then I’ll figure something out, okay? We’ll figure something out.”

Much like with Xenon, Chomby had closed his eyes and started to just breathe. He seemed to also be deep in thought now.

Sarge lifted a hand and patted Chomby’s belly. “I’ll leave you be, big guy. Love you.”

Chomby merely opened an eye and stared at Sarge. He probably forgot about the two ever saying those words to each other. It hurt Sarge a bit. Seems he lost the ability to show his best friend compassion. Chomby still didn’t seem to fully trust him. Neither did Xenon.

Sarge opened his eyes out of the mindscape. He was greeted with a gray light coming in from the blinds. Was it morning already?

He looked over at Xenon and saw the alien was asleep. Since Xenon never actually slept, this was unusual for Sarge to see. He supposed the ritual truly was that exhausting to be thrown into.

Sarge wanted to believe that, In time, things would go back to normal. Chomby’s weird defense made everyone forget about Sarge, but it wasn’t permanent. It couldn’t be. It didn’t seem to affect technology, otherwise the mainframe wouldn’t have known about Sarge. That meant Sarge’s credentials were still intact. But he probably needed to find a new job. He also needed to reconnect with friends and family. Did they all forget he existed, too?

There were too many questions racing through Sarge’s head. He decided to get off the couch, doing his best to not make any noise. He figured he could make himself some tea to relax. Maybe, then, he’d go to bed. He had a lot to think about, but his body was still dealing with his healing fatigue. Trying to solve any problems now wouldn’t work out.

With the idea of tea in his mind, Sarge went to the kitchen to prepare his electric kettle. He was midway through pouring the water in when he heard a knock on the door.

Was it the police?

Sarge went to the door and looked through the peephole. He couldn’t see anyone at the doorstep, but he noticed a dim, red light shining on the ceiling from the ground.

He had an idea of who was at the door and decided to open it. Sure enough, he saw one of the mainframe’s aerial drones on the ground.

The drone quickly scanned Sarge before speaking up. “Detective_Sergeant_Wolf has returned? Continue the query of Detective_Sergeant_Wolf?”

“Cancel the query, Starfish.” Sarge lowered one of his arms. The drone grabbed on and slowly dragged itself to his shoulder. “You remember me?”

“The mainframe’s memory was not corrupted like Caretaker_Xenon and Unit_Anomaly_Chomby. All data of Detective_Sergeant_Wolf remains intact.”

Sarge backed into the house and closed the door. He looked to the couch and saw Xenon was still asleep. He decided to go to his bedroom and close the door behind him. To his relief, the room looked mostly the same. The only difference was the color of the curtains on the wall and the big Chomby-shaped imprint in the bed. It made Sarge chuckle.

“Can you tell me why you’re here, Mainframe?” Sarge asked.

“The mainframe has a request,” the drone said.

“Alright, what’s the request?”

“Request is inaccessible unless Unit_Anomaly_Chomby is present.”

“Hear that, Chomby?” Sarge asked. “Mainframe wants to talk to you.”

“Why?” Chomby asked.

“Dunno. Want me to zip up?”

“Are you sure you want to do that? I might-”

“I don’t care if you do or not.”

“That’s a lie,” Chomby’s voice wavered. “You do care. You don’t want to be reduced to nothing again.”

“Then I’ll have to trust you won’t let that happen,” Sarge said. He fastened up the jacket. “Last chance to stop me.”

Sarge could sense Chomby’s hesitation. Since the Soundbyte didn’t say anything, however, he zipped up.

When Chomby came out, he was relieved to know he still remembered Sarge. He looked at his hands and noticed they were his. He then looked down at the logo on his belly.

“Y-you didn’t have to do that, you know,” Chomby said aloud.

“If you’re gonna keep pulling that card, then I’ll just use the card of, ‘the mainframe has something interesting to tell us. Let’s hear it out,’” Sarge retorted.

Chomby clenched his fists and snarled. “Fine. What do you want, Mainframe?”

The drone scanned Chomby up and down. It talked for several minutes. At first, Chomby couldn’t understand what it was trying to say. But then, it clicked. He felt himself almost smile.

~~~~~

This is the second to last chapter of the story. I hope you enjoy it! :D

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Xenon/Sarge/Chomby/Art/Story (C)  Juntarhenogu Me